Ok, a bit of a rant :-)
A group of us were talking about Second Edition 40K during/before the Tournament today... And I have to wonder if we are not heading there or already there. Now, back in 2nd Edition just before it died, you had things like Ravenwing Speeders that literally could not be hit by a lot of armies, needed a 7+ to hit with modifiers, tough to do on a d6... And then the Eldar could do the bad "nose touching" thing putting their Jet Bikes in BtB with their chosen target for a drive by HtH attack and shooting attack... And this seems to be exactly where we are with the Chaos Heldrake... It is a fly by attack that cannot miss, just hits for d3+1 Str 7 Ap 3 hits then flamer template at Str 6, AP 3 again. So, no chance to fail and pretty much will be killing off bunches of 3+ or worse saves... Right now, there are simply not enough defenses against fliers like this. In and of itself it will not be the thing that breaks the game, but it is moving closer. We have a Flier supplement that came out Saturday apparently, but not seeing it as it is "Direct Only" and only available through GW... Not something I could have pre-ordered at the local store. Maybe they will change some of the rules, point costs and or armor values/stats, but I doubt it given the history of the Company...
Second point is Allies... On the surface, it's "neat", but not a big deal. In practice though, it becomes an "All Stars Team" and a way to add extra slots... So, 3 HQ, 4 Heavy/Elite/FA, etc... And the interaction of a lot of the armies is odd at best, but being able to make giant blobs fearless, add fliers/Artillery/whatever... I hate to say it, but playing a "mono" army does put one at a disadvantage given that there are no real costs to field Allies... Especially if they are "close enough" Allies and can mix and match at will... I hate to feel like a fool for playing a "by the book"army, but I am fairly sure that my Wolves are completely useless in the current environment. Without going to FW stuff in the Mortis DN, etc., even the new DA codex is simply not all that capable of handling a top tier list. I guess it is something to think about. I'm not thrilled that I think that the IG allies are necessary to actually have a chance of winning, but...
As a tyranid player I completely agree. I have no allies, no air defence. I can't even fire a quad gun. The best I could do is hope to glance a heldrake with my hive tyrant, but he gets a 5++ and then it will not die. While he vector strikes me at higher S than me, and I can't even jink it.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I am thinking that a "Bastion of Cheese" will have to be built... Bring the Tech and a Power Field or maybe a Librarian... AAA on the tower, the 4++ save a squad of AA missiles and probably the Div spell "guide"... Will work until the flamer actually hits the building I guess...
ReplyDeleteWas looking at restarting my ancient Wolves, but I have to admit my motivation level for that is low at best... Sadly, it's pretty much 40K or nothing for minis gaming locally, so guess I adapt and survive. I HAVE the IG with the fliers and I could bring DA "Allies" to shore up the few weaknesses I might have had... I just do not like in essence being told I HAVE to run this one specific army in order to be successful at the game. It's not even the Rock/Paper/Scissors effect as the Fliers are the "Rock" that is getting thrown at the other two :-)... Completely unenthusiastic about the possibility of going to one of the bigger Tournaments to play knowing that I'll do well until I meet an Air Force based army...